Why the sale of the Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and John Henry's purchase of the Boston Globe, will hurt everybody.

The Washington Post edition from Aug. 6, 2013, announcing that Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos will buy the newspaper for $250 million in a surprise deal that ends the Graham family's 80 years of ownership.

If your idea of fun is to lob a grenade into a crowded supermarket to see which consumer products emerge intact, then the dramatic sale of The Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos must have twinkled your toes.

If, on the other hand, you don’t regard independent, quality “news” as a mere commodity, like toilet paper and napkins, but something vital to the heartbeat of a modern democracy, then I’m sorry to predict this deal will end in tears. And that will not be good news for any of us.

1. Bezos’ embrace of the historic journalistic “values” of the Post is likely nonsense.

Who is this guy, and why so much faith among some media commentators in his “values”? Yes, he’s rich and obviously clever, and he understands “platforms” and “marketing.” But what about his view of public service journalism, or his politics, which apparently lean in the direction of libertarianism? Or how about his approach to “telling truth to power”?

His company, Amazon, is regarded by many as a modern-day sweatshop that uses tax advantages to decimate competitors. The Washington Post reported last week that “some former employees . . . say his intensity could at times escalate into tirades that humiliated colleagues.”

More importantly, his company is involved in a $600-million deal to provide computer infrastructure for the CIA. As American journalism analyst Jay Rosen wrote last week: “No firewall between the Post and Amazon will necessarily be respected when the most powerful hidden hands in the world are motioning for you to back down.”

2. What the 21st century does not need is the resurgence of the billionaire press baron.

American democracy, which certainly includes its media, is now being bought and sold as if the United States is a banana republic run by a small number of billionaire plantation owners. Modern-day El Salvador puts it to shame.

And then, of course, there is Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry, who just purchased The Boston Globe from The New York Times for $70 million in cash. For The Times, this represents a massive loss, since it originally bought The Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion — which leads me to Lesson 3.

3. The declining “market value” of American newspapers is idiotic.

In the world of John W. Henry, is a major metropolitan American daily newspaper worth more than a Uruguayan soccer player who, however gifted, is perhaps best known for having bitten an opposing player? Well, the answer is no.

John Henry, in addition to owning the Boston Red Sox, is also the principal owner of the Liverpool Football Club in the U.K. Luis Suarez, the club’s most valuable and most controversial player, is being sought by an opposing club, which has offered Henry the equivalent of $74 million (U.S.) — more than he paid this month for The Boston Globe. How crazy is that?

The commercial model of American news media is broken, probably beyond repair. Its broadcast news media has largely become shallow and irrelevant. And its mainstream newspapers are dying and increasingly subject to the wild eccentricities of bored billionaires with political agendas.

There are “business models” that are working on a small scale. They are often “not-for-profit” and “public spirited,” and they see a difference between news, information and toilet paper. Yes, these are notions that are anathema in today’s politicized America. But one day, when the audiences and readers have entirely vanished, there will be enough enterprising Americans who will want to start again. That’s the good news.

Tony Burman, former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News, teaches journalism at Ryerson University.